IWA-East Coast Masters of Pain 2021

Out of the three IWAs, East Coast is the oddball by virtue of being run and booked by a generally well-liked owner, Mad Man Pondo. Masters of Pain 2021 (along with Girl Fight Wrestling which took place on the same day) was the final show before IWA-EC closed down.

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ROUND 1

Match 1 – Extreme Backyard – SHLAK vs. Shane Mercer

Match 2 – Barbed Wire Mayhem – John Wayne Murdoch vs. Akira

Match 3 – Air Raid – Jimmy Llyod vs. G-Raver

Match 4 – 25k Thumbtacks – Nolan Edward vs. Alex Colon

ROUND 2

FINAL

Final Thoughts

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ROUND 1

Match 1 – Extreme Backyard – SHLAK vs. Shane Mercer

SHLAK wears what SHLAK always wears: faded black, now more dark-grey shorts, but his belt matches his boots, so I have no complaints. Shane Mercer wears a black vest over a white tank top to greenish camo pants and proper kickpads. The vest comes off, so what do we have? SHLAK has more exposed skin and matching belt/boots, Mercer has overall lighter colors and more sports wear. I'm not playing the ginger bonus game here because both undeniably look like wrestlers, so I'll call it a tie.

The saga of SHLAK staying in the ring ends here because neither of them enters the (no ropes barbed wire) ring, and Mad Man Pondo appears with a microphone. He sends both outside to the backyard where they take position on the bed of a truck while the audience follows. Despite not having a ring, they show quite a few wrestling moves before moving on to a car that gets demolished and turned into weapons bit by bit.

Although the car windows get smashed, there are not a whole lot of sharp items, but they draw blood early on and it just keeps flowing. Commentary is sparse or entirely absent, but I barely noticed because the match offers fast-paced action and a very different vibe to the average US deathmatch.

The finish, surprisingly, is a quick roll up on the truck bed from Mercer who improved his outfit rating by turning his white tank top almost completely deep red.

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Match 2 – Barbed Wire Mayhem – John Wayne Murdoch vs. Akira

Murdoch wears all black today, including a baseball hat. Proper boots, but otherwise a low sports wear ratio. That's far from ideal. Akira wears red-black shorts, black shirt, a black jacket, and black kickpads. That the shorts match his red/black hair alone is enough for a victory, but there's a problem. The blue print on the shirt clashes badly with the rest. What a baffling shirt choice! Thankfully, he removes it, and I'm also pleased to see that Murdoch's head isn't fully shaved.

Commentary is back now, but apparently can't see a whole lot.

They start off with an extended exchange of elbow strikes that evolves into a slugfest. Both counter attempts to whip them into the barbed wire, until Akira succeeds and proceeds to draw first blood. The stipulation quickly moves away from barbed wire with the appearance of a fork board, a tiny pane of glass, and Murdoch using Akira's jacket to choke him. Akira also takes something from it and stabs away at Murdoch's forehead, but I can't tell what it is. Tiny silver stick? Some type of kenzan? A bullet? A battery? It's an incredibly attractive weapon though. As soon as Akira lets go of it, Murdoch takes it to attack.

Shortly after, commentary proves that they really can't see what's happening and call a large blue board with gussets a 'lightbulb board'. Where is that commentary table?! Speaking of tables. One is set up outside the ring, and several more tiny panes of glass – most of which are surprisingly sturdy – join the weaponry. Akira advances after putting Murdoch through two tables.

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Match 3 – Air Raid – Jimmy Llyod vs. G-Raver

Lloyd wears all black. Other than the kickpads, it's all street wear as well. What was he thinking? He must have seen G-Raver – also wearing all black, but with long robes, a horned mask, and at least some wrestling attire – backstage. Personal opinions about G-Raver aside, he at least put effort in his look. Lloyd, on the other hand, is the poster boy of walking in from the gas station shift.

Anyway. There are scaffolds, a few lighttubes, a tiny fork board, and possibly a table on the outside. It's a fast and furious start from Raver until Lloyd cuts off the flippy shit with a lighttube. After a dive from Raver, the action moves to the outside early on. The momentum evaporates, and they return to the ring where Raver smashes a painting saying 'I love Jimmy Lloyd' over Lloyd's head. Lloyd slows down the match to a snail's pace with a submission hold. I'm a bit checked out at this point. Raver introduces the most menacing weapon of all: a bag of salt and vinegar chips. This might be an even dumber weapon than fish hooks. Commentary takes it as a cue to advertise chips native to West Virginia, but available on Amazon.

G-Raver climbs the scaffold. Lloyd follows, picks Raver up, and Death Valley Drives him down through two tables, but doesn't bother trying to pin him right away. After the predictably unsuccessful pin much later, Lloyd sets up another table in the ring, but ends up on it himself. Raver climbs the second, higher scaffold, hits a very nice Swanton, immediately goes for a cover, and Lloyd kicks out. He almost botches a piledriver, then Death Valley Drives Raver onto the plastic forks and gets a three count.

This was both the worst and least gory match so far.

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Match 4 – 25k Thumbtacks – Nolan Edward vs. Alex Colon

So this is awkward. As it turns out, G-Raver has very serious competition for being the worst person on this card in Nolan 'I like them young' Edward. Worse yet – spoiler – this one will be harder to ignore because he goes all the way to the finals. I'll do my best though, so for starters, I'll say Alex Colon has the better outfit before I have seen him. Otherwise I'll just keep this short because my attention is a rare and precious thing that I don't want to give to terrible people.

Yep, this sure was one of the matches that took place in 2021, and there were definitely quite a few thumbtacks in it. NEXT.

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ROUND 2

Match 1 – Lighttubes – Shane Mercer vs. Akira

Mercer's outfit rating goes up thanks to the formerly white, now deep red tank top. That's how I expect people to look past round one. Akira has ditched the shirt and jacket, so now hair and shorts match from the get go. Black is the dominant color though, so it's a fairly easy victory for Mercer.

There are loose tubes in the ring, and a drum with a lot more on the outside. Mercer brought his own weapon in the form of a whip-sword. That's unexpected. It looks like Ivy's trademark weapon in SoulCalibur. Usually, Mercer is more of a Mortal Kombat guy. Akira counters the attacks with chain wrestling and takes Mercer down to the mat, then arms himself with loose tubes. After a short outside brawl, things move back to the ring with creative lighttube use.

The balance between smashing and wrestling is great in this. While tubes keep breaking left and right, it's almost always the result of a wrestling move. More often than not, Akira tries to Kasai things up, only to get caught and countered when he dives with the tubes. The most spectacular version of this is a lighttube-reinforced superplex for a near fall, after which Akira tries a different approach with submissions.

Things slow down somewhat, until Akira counters a Moonsault'n'Battery with a roll through for a close two count. A rapid sequence of kicks and suplexes follows, and Akira scores the three count in the end. Easily the MOTN.

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Match 2 – Cinder Blocks – Jimmy Lloyd vs. Nolan Edward

In stark contrast to Shane Mercer's blood-soaked look, Jimmy Lloyd still wears all black. And because that's not enough, he also has a syringe – heralding an obnoxious Instagram spot - in his mouth. Seeing who his opponent is, I'm firmly checked out. There's no need to ruin the great vibe from the previous match with this, but I guess in 2021, this was hot shit.

The match starts with instructions that both have to be 10 steps away from the ring, then run toward it on a countdown. Why? I have no idea. Immediate smashfest with the lighttubes that are stacked on the cinderblocks in the middle of the ring. When all tubes are smashed, they just stand around for a while. The inevitable syringe spot happens, as do a bunch of other things. I already spoiled it above; Edward advances.

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FINAL

Fans Bring The Weapons Dog Collar – Akira vs. Nolan Edward

Default fashion win for Akira whose back looks appropriately battered for a final. There's a bit of a flea market going on in the ring, with several boards, the refilled drum of lighttubes, an ironing board, tube bundles, a WWE replica belt, and more.

I really like this stipulation. As someone who doesn't particularly enjoy outside brawls and the camera issues that often stem from them, this seems like a great way to keep the action in the ring. Better yet, the dog collar comes without the visibility issues that things like cages and cells... Nolan Edward leaves the ring and pulls Akira out to brawl in the crowd. Couldn't even wait for me to finish typing out my hopes that the match will stay in the ring for the most part. What a jerk.

So, now we have an outside brawl that at least stays on-theme with heavy use of the chain. Akira does return to the ring at some point and thereby brings them both closer to the weapons that have remained almost untouched so far.

Back in the ring, this match becomes significantly better. Still fairly chaotic and the wrestling aspect is somewhat hindered by the chain and the amount of weapons, but it's intense and entertaining and I will just say that's all Akira's doing to have my peace of mind. Satisfyingly, Akira wins after a lighttube-enhanced senton.

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RECAP, FINAL THOUGHTS

At under 2 hours total, this is a very short tournament, but most of the matches really pack a quality punch. If you can separate the art from the artist better than me, I'd even say the tournament is pretty strong all the way through. I can overlook some things/controversies, but I have my limits, so for me, the presence of Raver and Edward soured the show in hindsight. However, Mercer and Akira had very strong matches, and seeing they were in 4 out of 7, that tips the scale toward 'recommended' in the end.

Mercer vs. Akira remains my MOTN, Akira also takes the MVP title, and Mercer turns the Best Dressed trophy into a Most Soaked one.

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